Hi everyone! 

My name’s Emily and I am about to embark on a journey of discovery.  My back story is complicated, but in a nutshell, I am a 37-year-old woman who has breast cancer, suffers from panic attacks and was fired from her job in March of 2009. 

My front story will hopefully be better.  Since I have been out of work, I realized that just any job will not do anymore.  I don’t want to work just to work.  I want a job that is meaningful to me.   I realized my last job was not good for my health, and in a way, it’s a blessing that I am no longer there.  Stress is unavoidable, but my goal now is to avoid as much of it as possible.  Deep down, I believe that my past stress may have contributed to the cancer in some way.  The levels of adrenaline in my body were at such high levels for so long (since I was 13) that my body just could not keep up the fight.  Something had to give.  But this blog is not about the panic, and not about the cancer. It’s about finding what I’m good at doing.

So I have been thinking since March, “What IS it that I want to do?”  “What do I enjoy doing?”  My answer is:  crafting…and shopping…

I’ve enjoyed crafts for a long time.  What better time to do them than now? 

There are 3 types of crafts that I’m interested in pursuing:  painting gourds, ribbon garlands and paper quilling.  I’ve done the latter in the past and have the materials to do that.  The other 2?  Never tried to make either of them.  But that’s going to change.

You hare hereby invited to join me as I teach myself how to paint gourds.  I used to paint back when I was 11ish, but I never knew how much of the painting was MINE and how much of the painting was the instructor’s.  But I learned the basics, which I am hoping that will help me along the way.

I started by ordering 2 books:

How to Paint a Gourd, by Aurelia Conway and
Holiday Fun, Painting Christmas Gourds, by Sammie Crawford

When these arrive, I will start to learn how to begin. 

Of course, I need the supplies, the paint, the paint brushes…most importantly, I will need to relearn how to use my imagination and get the creative juices flowing again.

I really hope you will join me as I embark on this…I truly must be out of my gourd! 

Ornamental gourd still life.

Autumn wings, also called Cucurbita pepo, is a colourful and strangely shaped gourd variety.

© S. Creighton 2009

Yesterday I shared my egg-painted-with-marker idea. Today, the craft is a little more complicated. It isn’t hard to make, but it is a bit more time-consuming. Most of the time is spent making the template, but it is totally worth doing a good, careful job. The pictures don’t do it justice, though-the results are beautiful! I wish my camera captured the glistening gold in the paper a little better.

Washi Paper Gourd

you need:

A small egg-shaped gourd. Alternately, you can use a hen egg or a wooden egg. Just make sure you clean, sand, or do whatever it is you need to do to prepare them accordingly.

Washi origami paper or another paper that has a pattern you like. I used Washi because it is strong and flexible, and molds easily to the shape of the gourd without too many wrinkles. You should not need more than a 6″ square per egg.

Perfect Paper Adhesive glue, or another brand that you like. Make sure that it is a quality that isn’t going to yellow over time.

Ribbons and other decorations for the finished product.

1) carefully measure around the widest part of your egg’s circumference. then measure the height, from the very center of the top of the egg to the very center of the bottom. Be sure to add a little bit to each measurement to make sure you don’t accidentally come out short! you can always trim it later if you need to.

Draw each of these measurements onto a piece of plain paper. you should have something like this:

(the long horizontal line represents the circumference measurement. the vertical line is the height from top to bottom)

2) mark every 1/4″ or so along the circumference line, as I have begun to do above.

3) after you have marked every half-inch for the entirety of the line, begin to draw vertical lines at each marking. this will be where you will cut. you should end up with something that looks like this:

using a ruler is recommended. I didn’t. sorry it’s sloppy. However, i doubt a few crooked lines will matter all that much. I also didn’t finish drawing the entire template for this tutorial, but I hope this is enough to give you the idea of how to continue along the entire length of the line. I imagine this entire process is pretty self-explanatory, but please let me know if you’re confused.

4) begin cutting.

Here, I’ve tried to show where to cut. the solid horizontal line in the middle is the same horizontal line that goes around the circumference. the small dotted lines on each side of it are the lines to which you cut, but don’t cut past them! stop cutting about 1/4″ of each side of the circumference line so you have a solid band 1/2″ wide through the center of your template.

And yes, I did taper the ends. This is to avoid having too much paper overlapping and getting messy at the top and bottom of the egg. You may want to trim the ends as you go to keep it from getting too thick and bunched up with overlapping paper. You want it to lay as smooth as possible!

5) now that you have a template, simply trace it onto the paper you want to use, and cut it out exactly the same.

6) make a little line of glue right along the center circumference line of the paper. attach it around the widest part of the egg, exactly where you measured it in step one. make sure the paper is smooth, and hold it there until its dry. It should now look like the egg has a little fence surrounding the top and the bottom.

7) gently fold the “fence posts” down one at a time and glue them, making sure each is neat and smooth. trim as you need.

8)let the glue dry, then seal with a clear craft glaze to finish.

9) if you wish, drill a hole through the egg and thread a ribbon through to hang. Tie in a bow at the bottom as I did, or add some pretty beads and charms for a unique touch!

and there you have it–beautiful gourd/paper ornaments. Let me if this tutorial was clear, it’s my first one and I’m still practicing a little bit. I wish I’d thought to take pictures as I went along, rather than hastily trying to make up a new template afterwards.

pardon my learning! and Happy crafting!

Hard to believe it is already December, isn’t it! The craft-blog world has reached a state of frenzy, throwing up every idea they’ve come up with that can possibly think of. Some of the ideas are fabulous, and a few I’ve found more than a few really good patterns for handmade Christmas presents for friends and family.

Thats not to say I don’t have a few tricks up my own sleeve, as well!

Here’s my favorite gift I’ve made so far this season. I wish my photography skills were better, but I think you get the idea. It’s the simplest craft ever, and it turned out so cute! who said an awesome gift needs to be complicated? Plus, it can take as much or as little time as you have to spare. It’s also endlessly adaptable, meaning you can do basically whatever you like with it!

make one, or make several and put them all together in a super cute gift box for a friend.

All you need is an egg and some markers. Yup, that’s all! no messy paints and brushes to clean up. A couple fine-tipped sharpies in your favorite color should do the trick.

I used small egg-shaped gourds I bought at a festival last year, and I think they’re perfect. You could also use a real egg if you’re not afraid of the fragility, just make sure you clean it out well before you use it! If neither of those is right for you, you could buy a smoothly sanded wooden egg from a craft store and add a screw to the top for easy hanging.

I could give you step-by-step directions, but I don’t think this project needs it. But here’s a few tips and suggestions:

~I suggest you add some sort of base coat, especially if using a wooden egg. White is ideal because all colors show up well on it, as you can see from my example. However, I’ve also found with gourds that their natural brown color looks lovely showing through, so you may not need to paint it at all.

~I found the picture of a quail in a magazine (magazines are a great source of inspiration!) I copied it freehand very lightly with pencil onto my egg, and then colored it in with my markers. If you are not confident with your drawing abilities, you might try transfer paper.

~If you don’t think you can draw , opt for patterns instead. take cues from fabric prints, such as small flowers or swirls. doodle the pattern over your egg.

~try using rubber stamps!

~um, glitter, anyone?

~center your design so that it fills up the entire egg! notice how I used the branches to swirl around and take up some of the empty space around the bird.

~match the ribbon to your design for a nice touch! you might also consider adding a pretty bead or charm to the end to tie it off.

~when you’re satisfied, consider sealing your design with a clear glaze finish.

You really can’t mess up. And the best part is, if you don’t like it you can always paint right back over it with that white base paint, and you have a clean slate for your next try!!

Tomorrow: Egg Ornament Idea #2

Hmm, not so great images. I got caught up in other stuff and forgot all about this until late in the evening. Like, 45 minutes or so before the end of the 23rd day. I’m also not at home and forgot my tripods and lighting stuff aside from my flash. Without this shooting anything indoors is a lot harder. Combine it with lack of time and things get harder yet. Anyways, here is today’s images, barely on time.

 Update as of 30 October 2009

As October slips into November, the days start getting shorter and the nights nippier. The crisp morning breeze at times coaxes one to go out jogging, but most often forces you to clutch your blanket and curl up for ten more winks or more. This is also the season when the urge to get back to some sweet treats beckons, despite Id or Diwali being well past; this is nature’s way of ensuring that the body has enough energy to keep warm and also store extra sugars for a really cold day! So mothers look out for that plump bottle gourd, which is tender (tested by poking a fingernail into the smooth green skin) and yet large enough to yield the much needed mass for the halwa (Indian sticky sweetmeat – sometimes made of ground cereal or grated veggies). In some parts of South India, where ash gourd grow on vines along compound walls, uncared and untended, women gather these instead of the bottle versions and grate them for the halwa. The resulting sweetmeat is then adorned with dry-fruits like cashews and raisins and flavoured with cardamom powder. But some families make these more attractive by adding food colour – mostly green, but there are some who try to fool the eater by adding a saffron colour – giving the “urchin” vegetable a prized position. The cooler it gets, the darker are the colours of the other most favoured vegetable for halwa – the Indian Carrot. This, unlike its English cousin, is a deep crimson, longer in shape and needs a really good scrub before the scrape. The root hairs grow profusely on these and since river beds are often used to grow them in, the moist carrots attract a lot more sand than their “foreign” and orange counterpart. These sweetmeats, if cooked well, can store for over a fortnight without refrigeration, but that is only if they are not tasty. Any tasty Halwa will usually not last for more than the day it is made; especially when the eaters are Indian!

The D Boyz were relaxing today on D Street as some good news about economic revival in the west trickled in, and the cool October breeze wafted into their offices. The October devils had already been exorcised last night – what with a 4.5% drop in SENSEX thus far. So they inhaled the crisp morning breeze and saw the morning shoppers buying their market baskets full of various gourds – bottles, ash. The thought of some green goodies going forward gave them the comfort to relax and keep the SENSEX in the green – between 150 -280 points up. But as the afternoon truckload of veggies hit the market, the Boyz were surprised to see that the shoppers aimed for the desi (Indian) carrots. The vendors were doing brisk business selling the red root and the weight of the shopping bags sagged the Boyz’ shoulders, as they smacked their lips and could only dream of the divine red sweetmeat – they even contemplated taking home about 200 kgs of these (by dropping the SENSEX 200 points down), but settled at about 153 points down. After the busy and red session at work this week (when the SENSEX fell 5.5%), they now look forward to some good sweetmeats at home for dessert. At the end of the month – they moved from the heady 17000 points to end below 16000 at 15896.

I have tried the above veggie halwas, as well as those made of beetroot and potatoes. But the one that I really relished, but only tasted once was made of white coconut milk; yumm! Share your experiences of halwas – cooking, buying, eating, or any other stories by just simply clicking here – HALWA.

Have a nice weekend – some of us in Mumbai and Delhi have an extra day of it!!

Cheers…..

Ah, Halloween has come and gone but Fall is still here! It’s in the air and brings with it such rich warm colors. On the trees, in the apples, pumpkins, corn, gourds, and in those lingering sunsets (a little earlier than most would like). There is so much inspiration to bring to any picnic, dinner party, or grand event. Think about the colors and textures. All shades of red and orange, creams and wheats, greens, and natural browns. Butternut squash soups, pumpkin pie, apple strudel, spiced cider, creamy coffees, and caramel apples. Warm linens, extra candlelight, fireplaces and fire pits. I love this time of year.

Gourds from Bates Nut Farm in San Diego:

]]> http://pancakesandpoodles.wordpress.com/2009/10/31/a-very-dirty-halloween/ Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:41:01 +0000 emsarconi http://pancakesandpoodles.wordpress.com/2009/10/31/a-very-dirty-halloween/

Last night, in preparation for Halloween, Liz, Nate and I carved pumpkins, made candy apples and ate our weight in candy.  I had the worst sugar hangover this morning, but it was one of my favorite Halloween’s in recent years (that wasn’t on Halloween).

We call the third picture “New Pumpkin,” it’s going to be the cover of soon-to-be best selling romance novel about a Jesuit girl who falls in love with a giant pumpkin that sweats profusely in the sun. The last picture is what spurred a long string of dirty jokes that lasted until nights end. Once, at a similar Halloween get together, someone said to someone else (who did not like to scoop out the inside of pumpkins) “how are you ever going to finger a girl if you can’t slime a pumpkin.” I chose to repeat this line randomly during a moment of silence. It only progressed from there.

Yes, that’s a watermelon. And that thing that liz is holding is the inside of a very suborn gourd. Some things just don’t like to be gutted.

aaaand then we bought and insane amount of candy to celebrate our hard work. Happy Halloween!

In addition to the Cornucopia displayp, and all the wonderful carved pumpkins, I also photographed several other groups of pumpkins on a recent trip to Longwood Gardens. Located throughout the gardens, each display contained multiple varieties of pumpkins, squashes and gourdes of every imaginable shape and size.

This grouping was located near the rose garden. I don’t know about you – but I’d love to know just how much the pumpkin on the right weighs.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Here’s a detailed photo of some of pumpkins in this display. I liked the combination of the orange pumpkin, the yellow chrysanthemums and the hay.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Here are a few of the pumpkins on display near the Idea Garden.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

A group of pumpkins piled up against the bales of hay in the Children’s Garden.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

And finally, some from a display near the Conservatory. I really liked the contrast in colors between the two similarly shaped pumpkins.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

I really enjoyed photographing the pumpkin displays a t Longwood Gardens this year – and can’t wait to see what they come up with next year.

]]> http://texgrubbs.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/o-my-gourd/ Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:48:30 +0000 texgrubbs http://texgrubbs.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/o-my-gourd/

My office held its first annual pumpkin carving ‘contest’ today. I hadn’t carved a pumpkin in years, but with the help of my trusty $2.99 pumpkin carving kit from Target, a favorite childhood activity was relived. I’ll blame my rusty carving skills on a 10 year hiatus from the sport. Everyone had a good time carving, no one suffered an injury,  and all the pumpkins turned out nicely…Happy Halloween.

Continuing in the vein of seasonal/transitional decor: fall veggie candles! Cute for now, cute for Thanksgiving supper – and hopefully by the time you’re sick of them, they’ll be burned out anyway. (-Moe)

Orange pumpkin candles, $4.95-14.95; and Green pumpkin/squash/gourd candles, $2.95-5.95; at Crate & Barrel.

Today’s blog post is an exercise in using every last bit of the food we have and making it into something delicious. At a recent orchard visit, we received a free 4-pound pumpkin. The small pumpkin, only about 8 inches tall, looked very cute and festive on the countertop. But why stop there? While opening the pumpkin to extract the seeds, the thought hit Stacey: “Figure out how the make something out of the entire gourd!”  So this week’s post is a two-part recipe.

First, the seeds. Man, are they slippery! Once you’ve hacked your way into the pumpkin – we just chopped it open with a chef’s knife – remove the seeds and put them in a colander. Rinse them, removing the orange “gunge” that will try its best to thwart your cleaning efforts. Lay the wet seeds on a dry paper towel in one layer and pat them dry with another paper towel. At this point, we divided the clean and dry seeds into three bowls. To each bowl, we added several drops of extra virgin olive oil, enough to coat the seeds. That oily coating will help the seasoning stick to them. Then we seasoned one bowl with kosher salt, another with a sugar/pumpkin pie spice mix and the final bowl of seeds was seasoned with Old Bay. Season each one to taste; there are no right or wrong measurements here.

Lightly spritz foil-covered baking sheets with cooking spray and spread seasoned pumpkin seeds across the sheet in one layer. With the oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit, roast the pumpkin seeds in 10-minute intervals for about 30 to 40 minutes until lightly browned and crunchy. Cool and store in an airtight container for about a week.

While the seeds are drying on the paper towels, chop the pumpkin into 1-inch chunks. Place them on a lightly oiled baking sheet and brush with a little more oil and sprinkle with salt, if desired.  Put the sheet in the bottom of the 300-degree oven and roast the pumpkin pieces for about 30 to 40 minutes until they are very soft when poked with a knife. Remove from oven and scrape the meat from the rind. We discarded the rind, put the meat into a pot and used our butternut squash soup recipe as a template to make pumpkin soup.

Making use of the entire pumpkin is an ideal example of minimizing waste and using what we have – a powerful lesson in this day of convenience. There are health benefits to this process as well. If we’re interested in making use of the entire pumpkin, we’re enjoying the full tastes and nutritional value of the product. The flesh of the pumpkin is rich in beta carotene, while the seeds are a good source of protein and several minerals including iron and magnesium. The seeds can be stored and used for other purposes, such as topping soups or salads, or mixed in with nuts for a crunchy snack.

How do you flavor your pumpkin seeds? How would you cook the pumpkin flesh if not in a soup?

How Stacey Got the Shot: With natural light, foam core and a silver reflector. ISO 100, the 50mm f/1.8 lens at f/2.5, 1/80 second exposure.

I love food, ordinary food, stuff that’s referred to in Bengali homes as shadharon jhol jhaal (curries) — in right measures.

But for strange reasons some meals have stuck to my mind. The one I had as a child in a small hut at Nalanda, for instance.

I had gone there with my parents. After a visit to the famous ruins, we had located a woman at a ramshackle tin-roof hut selling homely fare for lunch. She had served us piping hot rice — nothing fancy about that — daal and a gourd (lauki in Hindi) curry. She hadn’t even thrown in shrimps to add flavour, like Bengalis do.

Rice and gourd curry – unimaginative, pedestrian stuff. But what lip-smacking taste! Gourd is the plain Jane among veggies. To rustle up a delicious dish from it would need supreme talent.

Whenever we complained of upset tummies, we were put on ‘sick jhol’ (broth) and rice. I remember faking umpteen stomach gripes just to eat that meal. Even though typecast as fodder for the ailing, the thick broth cooked with shredded cat fish (magoor maachh), mild spices, green bananas and papaya was mouth-watering.

There was nothing royal or elaborate about any of these meals, but they were worth treasuring. I guess it’s about the plainness of the dishes — they never looked or tasted angry or aggressive. Instead, there was benign colourlessness.

The Nalanda woman — I don’t remember what she looked like — had scooped up lumps of steaming rice using a once-white broken porcelain plate from a large container that had a blackened bottom.

The little rice hill on the banana leaf was splashed with yellow daal on one side and drab gourd curry on the other. Aesthetics and garnishing? None. I ate with bare hands, slurped, licked and almost chewed up the fingers.

Similarly, I can’t get over a brinjal dish a classmate had cooked at a college picnic at a Murshidabad mango grove. He had roasted the begoon over a charcoal fire and mashed it creating a gooey paste, spicing it up with salt, dried mango powder, mustard oil, red chillies and finely chopped coriander. The blend, ladled out on banana leaves, was eaten with rice. Fascinating stuff.

I have had umpteen occasions to sample five-star food, but none of it has left a lasting impact. True, celebrated chefs created these dishes. But not one ever came close to posto bata, mochar ghonto, aam adaar daal or the Oriya dalma.

That’s probably because my tongue is far too trained to salivate over this fare. If that were true, how do I explain the extraordinary idli-sambhaar I ate at Tirupati some years ago? A colleague’s wife had packed the tall, conical rice cakes and the tangy sambaar in a tiffin box for me to eat during a road trip from the temple town. I have never eaten such rudimentary stuff so remarkably made. Or for that matter, the litti-chokha I gorged on at a Patna newspaper office canteen. Litti, if I know right, is a little chapatti stuffed with a paste of daal blended expertly with spices. Doh-sniang and Do-jam they served at a roadside Shillong shack was just as remarkable.

If I went back to the same Nalanda woman and ate the same gourd curry of her, would it be as tasty? Or for that matter, if mom served me the same sick jhol, would I feign another bout of loose motions? Perhaps no.

Reason: Simple meals become memorable because of the circumstances. Sick jhol always came with care salad, Doh-sniang with novelty garnishing. Roasted brinjal with an appetiser called friendly love. Gourd curry was a hunger-quencher.

So yesterday some friends and I took up verious carving instruments and rendered a number of pumpkins (and one acorn squash and one gourd) into a collection of jack-o’-lanterns.  It was a lot of fun (albeit a bit messy).  We also collected the pumpkin seeds for roasting, a first batch turning out quite tasty.  Dan was kind enough to use his photography prowess to document the occasion, of which you can view the photoset here.  Yay!  it is almost Halloween time folks.

This is the jack-o'-lantern that I carved. I think it looks melty.

Side note: The beer in the glass in one or two of those pictures is some of my witbier.  It is a really fantastic beverage.

Last week, I spent most of a day photographing at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. I’d gone up expecting to spend my day photographing the chrysanthemums – which were lovely. You can imagine my surprise when I realized that what I was spending most of my time photographing was the pumpkins! I had seen the Christmas display at Longwood last year, so I knew they did wonderful things for the holidays. They also do a wonderful job of capturing the colors of autumn.

My favorite autumn display was the giant Cornucopia in front of the Dupont House. It’s a classic woven horn of plenty, with lots of pumpkins, squashes and gourds spilling out.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

The display provided wonderful opportunities for photographing combinations of fall produce. Here are some of my favorite photos of parts of the display.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

I never realized there were so many shapes, colors and textures of pumpkins, squashes and gourds. And while I’m sure the staff at Longwood Gardens can identify what all these are – I have no clue what varieties any of them are.

The Autumn’s Colors and Chrysanthemum Festival run through November 22 at Longwood Gardens.  I know I’m planning on heading back up to see more of the exhibit soon. If you get a chance, it’s well worth visiting this wonderful display at Longwood.

]]> http://tastestopping.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/out-of-their-gourds/ Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:00:38 +0000 Casey http://tastestopping.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/out-of-their-gourds/

Tastespotting: not sharp

Hey everyone!  I just finished downloading all my photos from the gourd farm yesterday, and I have to admit to having a hard time limiting myself with all the pictures I would like to post for today’s 31 days of October share!  I said I would only post my favorites, but I’m challenged to narrow down the field.  As a scrapbooker, I love the idea of having so many new pictures to play with, but as a blog reader, you all might be groaning right about now.  “Oh mercy, not another family photo!!!!!” So I’ll warn you, this blog post is going to be photo heavy.  Run for your life now if you don’t care to be inundated!

We are lucky enough to have a small, country gourd farm just a short distance from our house, and for the last several years we have been sure to include a stop here as part of our annual Halloween celebrations.  It is owned by a cute farmer couple.  She loves to carve and decorate the gourds they grow on their land, and he loves to bring out the tractor and trailer to cart the kiddos around a small path on his property that he spooks up every year.  Nik just loves it, and I must admit to enjoying the ride as well.  This year, they’ve expanded the place to include a small play area and donkey rides, too. Nik and I were quite goofy with the ring toss and the bowling and the tunnels and such.

I get such a chuckle thinking about the groans and eye rolls I would have gotten out of Peter, had I dragged him along.

And now here we are on the hay ride.  Check out all the spooky stuff we saw.

Love, love the gourd farm.  Great place to take younger kids for a fun-filled family afternoon.  You can check out all the farm info here.  For anyone local, I can promise you lots of fun to be had there!

And now I will leave you all with one last photo from the ride.  Thanks for stopping by everyone!

My favorite thing in autumn is our annual visit to the pumpkin patch.  I love the colors and textures of the pumpkins and gourds.

Mrs. Fancy Pants with our 18.35 pound Fairy Tale pumpkin

Mr. and Mrs. Fancy Pants on the hayride

Mr. Fancy Pants and I made the trip out to Sweet Berry Farms on Sunday afternoon. Granted, I was so excited about this trip after a week of built up anticipation and honestly expected to be a little let down by the whole experience.  I am happy to say that this was not the case–not even bit.  It was a rainy afternoon in Central Texas and it drizzled on us off and on for the two hours we spent on the farm, however, both of us agreed afterwards it didn’t bother us a bit!  This place was a Mecca of fall fun!  As you can presumably tell already, I am a HUGE sucker for holidays, decorating, seasonal spirit and the like; and maybe I was skipping towards the entrance of the farm with my hair in pig-tails right along-side a herd of 4 year olds, but even the Ebenezer Scrooge of fall (if there was such a thing) would leave with happy memories from Sweet Berry Farm.

Fairy Tales and Original "Pies"

Pumpkins and Gourds everywhere--even in bath tubs!

I’ll give you a little run down of our memorable afternoon, but for the most part, I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves (after writing this I have realized that’s not the case–sorry I had a lot to say!!).  We began our afternoon just walking around and taking some photos.  I was expecting hundreds of traditional “orange pies”, I’ve got to be official and use the term they use on the farm, and was wondering just how many of the same orange pumpkin I was going to want–my point is not many, there’s only so much you can do with a bright orange vegetable. However, there had to have been more than 60 types of pumpkins and gourds there to buy!  Some of them had the strangest names: Fairy Tale, Koma Koma, Swan Gourds, Blue Gourds, etc. etc.

One hundred pound original "pies"

Pumpkin/Gourd Varieties

My father informed me a day or two ago that the front page of mine and Mr. Fancy Pant’s hometown newspaper featured a 2,000 pound pumpkin–yes there is so much headlining news going on in Texarkana that a 2,000 pound pumpkin made the front page.  Some things never change.  Sweet Berry had thousands of small and medium sized “traditional pies” for painting and carving a sagging table of pumpkins that were over 100 pounds a piece.  They were no 2,000 pounds but never in my life have I seen a vegetable so big!

Mr. Fancy Pants at the beginning of the maze

Mr. Fancy Pants REALLY happy to have found one of the posts inside the Texas Maze

We made our way around the farm and bought tickets for a hayride to the “Texas Maze”.  On the other side of the county road (yes we walked through a tunnel underneath the road–and our tractor driver said as we walked away, “Watch out for those cars…they’ll run right over you!” Don’t worry, I laughed at his corny joke–maybe too hard) The maze is on the other side of a field of flowers and is, if you saw the arial view, in the shape of Texas.  Throughout the maze they have a posts with a name of a lake in Texas on it.  Your “goal” was to find all of the lakes and punch a hole on your ticket at each respective lake.  We entered the maze on the northern tip of the “state” so we were told.  We did not do so well.  We were in the maze for about 30 minutes and successfully got really turned around and found two of the 11 lakes!  Pathetic.  We finally gave up.  Luckily Mr. Fancy Pants is an Eagle Scout otherwise I know without a doubt I would still be in that dang field of corn.

This photo is for my mother. The only person in the world that would love this face and the only one who loves corn as much as me.

After the corn maze, The Fancy Pants’ decided that corn sounded tasty so we went to the Pumpkin Grille and grabbed a Coke (we’re addicted) and shared a corn on the cob.  You can see from my face that I was pleased.

Digging for mini gourds

Struggling with this one...a little heavy for me!

And after much anticipation, Mr. Fancy Pants counted our remaining cash, told me how much we had left and said to “go wild”.  I grabbed a Radio Flyer wagon, a perfect touch I thought, and began to pick my favorite pumpkins.  I know I looked the part of the 4 year old that I had been feeling like all day, but I didn’t care in the least bit!  Most of the bigger pumpkins were priced by the pound and I had a time trying to even lift some of them!  Mr. Fancy Pants was such a good sport, though I never doubted he would be. We both were up to our elbows trying to find the best ones. We both knew we didn’t want any of the normal looking ones so we came home with an 18.35 pound Fairy Tale pumpkin, a 9 pound Blue Gourd, a Swan Gourd, a Pokemon pumpkin, 2 mini orange/white pumpkins, and 6 ghoulish mini gourds–all for the bargain price of $20.33!  And to top it all off, my sweet husband carried them all to the car and carefully got them home to Apartment 12 to wrap up our fall decor!

Our Pumpkin Loot!

Anytime, Mr. Fancy Pants and I have a little adventure we’re bound to have a good time, it’s in his nature, and our day at Sweet Berry Farms was no different. Anyone who knows William will tell you what a true joy he is. Sunday, however, will always be one of my favorite memories.  I’ve never been so happy to be Mrs. Fancy Pants. Happy Fall everyone!

Mrs. Fancy Pants in the flower field

You can view all of our pictures from the day on my Flickr site.

Michael Ducet at the 2008 Richmond Folk Festival

We have waited all year for this! The Second Annual Richmond Folk Festival starts Friday, October 9th at 6:00pm. On and around Brown’s Island, this free concert is absolutely the best thing that Richmond does all year.

There is a small chance of  rain so dress appropriately and put some money in the damn bucket so we can keep getting this wonderful music festival for free.

I am always surprised and hear something unexpected, so wander around and take some chances. This is a great music festival.

This is the fifth year Richmond has had a music festival, the first 3 years it was the National Folk Festival (this July the 72nd festival was in Butte, Montana), then Richmond took up that banner and had its’ own Richmond Folk Festival, this being the second year.

Tenor player Roger Carroll from Chez Roue’ will be playing with Swamp Dogg on Friday at 9:00 at the Ukrops Stage, Saturday at 1:00 again at the Ukrops Stage, and later at 3:45 at the RTD Dance Pavilion.

The Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra will be playing Saturday @ 1:00 and Sunday @ 2:00 Up the Hill.

I may try to learn how to yodel this year and of course you can always find me near the cajun music!

See you there!

Most families do. I’m not a big fan of the mess myself, so I generally never carve, but we did every year, when I was a young girl.  One of my all time favorite snacks is *Pumpkin Seeds.  So if carve, always remember to save the seeds for baking. Yum!

Make a Jack-o’-lantern

For this project, ask a grown-up to do all the cutting and carving. After the top of the pumpkin is cut off, scoop the pulp out with a spoon. Save the top to use as a lid and the seeds for your snack.

Next, draw on the eyes, nose, and mouth with a felt pen. These can be cut out, or just cut the skin and peel it off.

For ears, add leaves, small gourds, or halves of a green pepper. You can use a carrot or a red pepper for a nose. Hold these vegetables in place with toothpicks.

You can light your pumpkin with a candle or a flashlight. Put the top back on and your jack-o’-lantern is ready.

* Toasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe

Ingredients

* One medium sized pumpkin
* Salt
* Butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut open the pumpkin and use a strong metal spoon to scoop out the insides. Separate the seeds from the stringy core. Rinse the seeds.

2. In a small saucepan, add the seeds to water, about 2 cups of water to every half cup of seeds. Add a half tablespoon of salt for every cup of water (more if you like your seeds saltier). Bring to a boil. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and drain.

3. Spread about a tablespoon of melted butter over the bottom of a roasting pan. Toss, to coat the seed. Spread the seeds out over the roasting pan, all in one layer. Bake on the top rack until the seeds begin to brown, 10-20 minutes. When browned to your satisfaction, remove from the oven and let the pan cool on a rack. Let the seeds cool all the way down before eating. Either crack to remove the inner seed (a lot of work and in my opinion, unnecessary) or eat whole.

May Jack-o-lanterns burning bright
Of soft and golden hue
Pierce through the future’s veil and show
What fate now holds for you.
~Author Unknown

It’s the First of October, temperatures are cooler and fall-like, and that means it’s now acceptable to showcase pumpkins!  Pumpkins are the quintessential sign of autumn. They invoke memories of hayrides, pumpkin patches, leaves changing color and delicious smells wafting from the kitchen. ‘Tis the season to make some new pumpkin-scented memories with these easy and delicious recipes.

Like other types of winter squash, pumpkin is rich in beta carotene, an antioxidant and form of Vitamin A. While it is best known for its presence in sweet treats, pumpkin is low in calories and a good source of potassium, fiber, and Vitamin C. In baking, pumpkin puree can often be substituted for oil to provide moisture (as can applesauce) to save on fat, and increase nutrients.

Do you find yourself running to Starbucks Coffee more often at this time of year for their Pumpkin Spice Latte? We found a DIY Pumpkin Spice Latte recipe on TheKitchn.com that will save you a trip to the coffee shop. In a saucepan combine 2 c. milk (soy, 2%, whole, etc.), 2 tablespoons canned pumpkin OR 1 teaspoon of Torani Pumpkin Spice Syrup and 2 tablespoons sugar or sugar substitute (you can halve this amount to your taste) and cook on medium heat, stirring, until steaming. Remove from heat, stir in 2 tablespoons vanilla extract and ½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice (or a blend of nutmeg and cinnamon), transfer to a blender and process for 15 seconds until foamy. If you don’t have a blender, whisk the mixture really well with a wire whisk. Pour into a large mug or two smaller mugs. Add 1-2 shots espresso (about 1/4 cup of espresso or 1/2 cup of strong brewed coffee if you don’t have an espresso machine) on top. If you like, you can top it with whipped cream and a few dashes of pumpkin pie spice.

Because a second recipe makes this post twice as nice, here’s a Pumpkin Bread recipe from Lauren Miller, one of our faithful readers in Gunter, Texas. Oh, wait, she said that it’s her family’s recipe and she’s not giving it up. What about Stacey’s Grandmother’s recipe? Yeah, you’re not getting that either.  But Cooking Light and Sunset have a couple of delicious recipes, so try those out and let us know how you like their takes on this seasonal treat!

What are your favorite pumpkin recipes? And what recipes will you absolutely never give up to anyone outside of family? Please leave us comments!

How Stacey Got the Shot:.At the Penn Quarter Farm Market with the ‘kit lens’ at 55mm, f/5.6 in 1/60 second at ISO 400.